and James Cameron and Lin Mu agreed on the last 1 "Bond girl", two hours later, Gong Li, who was in Beijing, received a call from Zou Wenhuai of Golden Harvest Company. The sensation of the film "Titanic" shocked Chinese filmmakers can be imagined, after learning that he will have the opportunity to cooperate with an international director like James Cameron, Gong Li did not even see the script, so he did not hesitate to agree to the invitation from Cameron and happily went to Hong Kong to audition.

According to Gong Li's later description to the media, she was very nervous before meeting Jenvis Cameron. After all, the other party is a world-renowned top Hollywood director, and although Gong Li has won many international film awards, there is still a big gap between him and an international director like James Mellon. And Gong Li has always worked with Chinese directors before, and the pressure brought to her by this meeting is not small.

"Hello, Juxian!" First meeting. James Cameron spoke the Chinese he had just learned and greeted Gong Li, and it was interesting that he used the name of the heroine played by Gong Li in "Farewell Ji".

Gong Li didn't react for a while, and James Cameron hurriedly explained: "I watched your "Farewell My Concubine" and decided that I must cooperate with you. And now it's happening! ”

James Cameron said this, Gong Li then understood the reason for the matter, with this relaxed opening, the two quickly talked about the role of the script, when they heard which movie they were going to play the "Bond Girl", Gong Li showed hesitation. In her impression. "Bond girl. Not only is she beautiful, but she is also the kind of person who can fight, when she thinks of fighting in the film, she feels that no matter how much she learns, she may not be able to cope with it, so she feels a little embarrassed.

"I don't think there's any problem with that, the scenes in this Zou movie where there are three "Bond girls" fighting, just leave it to the other two actors, you need to play the role of the mistress of an underworld boss, and according to the requirements of the plot, our Bond needs to get close to you to understand some of the behind-the-scenes truths about this underworld and lurking in Hong Kong, and then there will be some interesting stories happening in it. James Cameron explained.

After understanding your role. Gong Li knew that this was a very challenging film for Yi Zou, and during the filming process, she not only had to be comfortable with a large number of English lines, but also had to master some basic conversations in Cantonese in order to perfectly interpret the character's personality and life background. In order to show off the charm of the mafia mistress who smitten Bond, Gong Li must also take extra lessons such as shooting and Cuban dance.

Although in many classic movies, the portrayal of women who are deeply oppressed in Chinese society is played. But Gong Li is still a modern woman who is eager to achieve self-breakthrough, and this Zou movie can be a springboard for her to enter Hollywood, how could she miss such an opportunity.

The starring lineup of Cameron's new version of the movie was basically formed after Gong Li confirmed to join, James Cameron just left Xiangjiang on the front foot, and Lin Mu came to Xiangjiang on the back foot, but he did not do it for Cameron's new film this time, but because Zou Wenhuai sent him a script not long ago. This script made Lin Mu's eyes shine.

It has been less than a year since Golden Harvest was acquired by Paramount, so it has not yet been able to form a relatively complete long-term talent training mechanism. Although Lin Mu currently does not set a hard production goal for the company, "Infernal Affairs" alone cannot support the company's development for a long time. Because Lin Mu himself is a screenwriter, he believes that a good film needs a good script. But the scripts sent to the United States by Golden Harvest were all denied by him one by one, and his vision was indeed a little picky

。

The forest over there is still pressing, and Golden Harvest's plan to launch a new film has been delayed again and again, just when the company's executives are worried about this matter. The script that Zou Wenhuai sent to Lin Mu finally moved him.

This, the story gives Lin Mu a very familiar feeling, because its overall framework is very similar to a set of classic European and American children's literature "The Chronicles of Narnia" published in the century, and the beginning of the series of stories is about a little boy and a girl who accidentally enter a different world. Called Narnia, and experienced a series of adventures there, and saw the creation of that world. After that, he buried a seed he brought from another world in the garden and grew into a large tree. The tree was later blown down by a hurricane, which was then used to make a wardrobe, and then led the four little ones into different periods of this magical country. Each book is related to each other, but can also be read independently.

Lin Mu then thought of "The Chronicles of Narnia", which was later adapted into a movie, which also created good box office results, and the small script that Lin Mu saw was simply an oriental version of "The Chronicles of Narnia". Two Chinese children, led by a magical gourd, travel through time and space to a different world called Floating Wonderland. The forces of evil take control of the other world, and then the two children become the heavenly opportunities that bring light to the world in ancient prophecies, and then with the help of good friends they make in the other world, they start a battle against evil.

Victory over evil is their purpose.

Different from the different world created in "The Chronicles of Narnia", the different world of floating wonderland in this script called "Looking for Immortals" is full of oriental cultural elements, a naughty little monk riding a big frog, a little Taoist priest with a flying gourd and a flying sword, a little fairy incarnated by a phoenix, and a small island suspended in the air, all kinds of novel settings all reflect the author's original setting. And the uniqueness of this script is that many elements of Chinese films are difficult for foreign audiences to understand. Based on a children's movie, it tells a fairy tale.

Lin Mu's first reaction after reading the script was that this was definitely a talent, and from the perspective of the quality of the script, this person's screenwriting skills were not much better than him, and such a talent was exactly what Lin Mu urgently needed. And listening to Zou Wenhuai, the person who wrote this script was less than three years old and was a lecturer at Xiangjiang Chinese University, which made Lin Mu can't help but be a little more curious about him. In his impression, there is no well-known screenwriter in Xiangjiang who is worthy of this person in later generations, is this a buried talent?

In the elegant and chic café of Golden Harvest Company, Lin Mu finally met this young screenwriter named Chang Mingsheng. Chang Mingsheng's first impression of Lin Mu was that he was a very quiet person, and he was a little surprised when he saw Lin Mu's arrival. "It's Mr. Chang, hello!" Lin Mu greeted him first.

"Hello, Chairman Lin!" Chang Mingsheng's reaction was a little shy, and it was obvious that he was not a good communicator.

I read Mr. Chang's script, Lin Mu held a teacup in his hand, but his eyes looked at Chang Mingsheng, "I don't know how Mr. Chang is like being a teacher, but I'm sure you will be an excellent screenwriter." ”

Chairman Lin passed the award, and Chang Mingsheng's answer was still very brief.

"Then let's talk about this script, Lin Mu took a sip of tea gently, "Overall, I don't have any opinion on Mr. Chang's script." But the company wants you to change the main character to two children from the United States or Europe. ”

"But what I wrote is a story about a classical Chinese fairy tale, but the protagonists are two foreign children, doesn't Chairman Lin think this is a bit nondescript?" Chang Mingsheng obviously disagreed with Lin Mu's suggestion, and his tone was faintly dissatisfied.

"Could it be that in a Chinese fairy tale, the main character must be a Chinese child?" Lin Mu asked rhetorically. As for Chang Mingsheng's attitude, he didn't care.

"This," Chang Mingsheng didn't know how to answer Lin Mu's question for a while.

"Mr. Chang, there are two issues that I need to explain here." Lin Mu glanced at Chang Mingsheng, "First of all, from the perspective of investors, I have to consider the investment income of this Zou film." If the film is only released to the East and South Asian markets after investment and shooting, there will be no problems with your script.

Although Kejiahe is currently based on the East and South Asian markets, the company will face more international markets in the future. According to the requirements of your script, the initial investment of this Zou film will be a large amount, and such an investment is limited only to meet the income of the eastern and southern markets. ”

"Secondly, commercial interests aside. From the perspective of cultural promotion, the selection of European and American children as the protagonists to lead to the entire plot can reduce the sense of substitution of foreign audiences for accepting the core values of the film, which can be more conducive to the spread of Chinese culture. Chinese filmmakers have always hoped to spread Chinese culture to the world through Chinese films, but foreign audiences' understanding of Chinese culture is far less than Chinese's understanding of foreign culture, if the original Chinese films are presented in front of them, can they accept Chinese films as Chinese accept foreign films? ”

"If Chinese movies will always only make wedding dresses for others, then Chinese movies will not be able to really go to the world, although Lin Mu's words have been made very clear, but Chang Mingsheng's attitude is stubborn and a little unkind.

Lin Mu smiled noncommittally, "Then Mr. Chang can try to weaken the main characters in the script and form a multi-protagonist model, which can be regarded as a compromise solution." ”

Chang Mingsheng didn't speak, and he acquiesced to Lin Mu's proposal. He also knew that Lin Mu, as an investor, could make such a big concession. He was already given a lot of respect, just by virtue of that. Lin Mu is different from some of the film investors he has seen before.

Now that both sides have made concessions on the question of the protagonist of the script, the next conversation between the two is much easier. After discussing some other details of the script, the conversation turned to the creation of the script. Chang Mingsheng has to admit that Lin Mu does have many outstanding points in the understanding and application of movie scripts, and it is no accident that Paramount can have today's achievements. Talking to Lin Mu, there will always be a feeling like a spring breeze, Chang Mingsheng even thinks that if Lin Mu is not the goal he wants to surpass, maybe they can really become good friends.

Did Chang Mingsheng think about creating a sequel on the basis of the entire script, and when the half-hour conversation was about to end, Lin Mu suddenly said this.

Chang Mingsheng's heart sank, and he couldn't help but secretly complain. In fact, he does have the idea of creating a sequel, but he has no intention of continuing to work with Golden Harvest. In fact, he just wanted to take advantage of Golden Harvest to become famous, and then seek to cooperate with other companies.

In his opinion, if he stays in Jiahe, Lin Mu is his boss, so he will never have a chance to surpass Lin Mu. But he didn't have to wait for him to think of a reason for refusal. Lin Mu's seemingly unintentional words completely dispelled his thoughts. "I can even imagine what a shocking scene it is for Mr. Chang's invincible little immortals to fight on the streets of New York."

Chang Mingsheng smiled bitterly in his heart but was helpless, what Lin Mu said was his next idea. And he also came up with this idea from Lin Mu's proposal to change the main character to American children, I don't think Lin Mu thought of this a long time ago, he should have considered the sequel when he saw this script.

"If we can, we would like to buy the film rights to the script and its sequel." Lin Mu's seemingly negotiating words carried a sense of no room for anything.

After some weighing left and right, Chang Mingsheng finally nodded and agreed to Lin Mu's request. The reason why Chang Mingsheng didn't choose it was because according to the content of his script, if he wanted to truly reflect the value of the script, he had to invest heavily in filming. At present, only a film company in Xiangjiang can meet this condition, Chang Mingsheng has been preparing this script for nearly two years, and he can't wait any longer.

It's a talent, but it's a pity Looking at Chang Ming'an's departing figure, Lin Mu sighed with some regret.

"Since you think he's a talent, why don't you keep him?" The one who asked this question was Golden Harvest's executive chairman, Xu Zihao, who was originally a veteran film manager at Haomuwu.

Lin Mu discovered this talent in Hollywood. He admired Xu Zihao's talent, so after Paramount acquired Golden Harvest, Lin Mu invited him over to assist Zou Wenhuai in managing the daily affairs of Golden Harvest Film Company. When Lin Mu was talking to Chang Mingsheng just now, Xu Zihao was sitting next door.

"This person is humble on the surface, but he has an arrogance in his bones, and it will be very troublesome if such a person is not used well." Lin Mu made a very helpless expression.

"Sooner or later, he'll come back to you one day. He's talented, but that's exactly what he does. Xiangjiang except for you, no one can use it well Xu Zihao said affirmatively.

"I'd love to wait for him!" Lin Mu said lightly.

"You obviously know that he will take a lot of detours, since you cherish your talents, why don't you remind him?" Xu Zihao asked curiously.

Sometimes, setbacks are a valuable experience for a screenwriter, especially the kind of ups and downs, which will make him go further on this road.